Dive Brief:
- Filings with the Nevada Public Utilities Commission request approval for three new utility scale solar projects, totaling 480 megawatts, for Nevada’s Dry Lake solar zone.
- Winning bidders in a competitive solicitation from the Bureau of Land Management were a 200 megawatt project proposed by First Solar, a 130 megawatt project proposed by Invenergy, and a 150 megawatt project proposed by NV Energy, the state’s dominant electric utility.
Dive Insight:
It is noteworthy that no concentrating solar project was chosen in the competition for a spot in the Dry Lake region so close to where BrightSource Energy’s 392 megawatt Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating Station, the first U.S. solar power tower, went online earlier this year.
First Solar just started construction on the NextEra Energy-owned 250 megawatt Silver State South solar PV project near Primm, Nevada, which has a 20 year PPA with Southern California Edison. First Solar is also building the 250 megawatt Moapa Southern Paiute PV project in southern Nevada, which has a 25 year PPA with the Los Angeles Department of Power.
The Dry Lake solar zone is about 15 miles north of Las Vegas and already has two transmission corridors with natural gas, petroleum product and electric transmission lines, including a 500-kV transmission line, running through it. Along with Nevada’s superb solar resource, this makes the zone an ideal and relatively uncontroversial location for solar power plants.
